SFB 1127:  Chemical Mediators in Complex Biosystems (ChemBioSys)

• Subject Area: Biology ; Chemistry ; Geosciences ; Medicine
• Term: since 2014
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 239748522

One of the chief characteristics of life on Earth is the detailed network of associations among organisms. Micro- and macro-organisms typically form complex biosystems with intricate spatial and temporal structure. At the heart of these complex biosystems are natural products. These small molecules function as chemical mediators that govern the interactions between individual organisms and, as a consequence, the composition of the entire community. Although such mediators affect our daily lives, we know only very little about the role of natural products in stabilizing and shaping the webs of interactions in living communities. These compounds and their role within complex communities are in the core interest of the CRC ChemBioSys. Therefore we aim to elucidate novel chemical mediators and targets that are involved in structuring complex communities, and to understand the regulation and mechanisms that generate community structures and maintain community diversity. On the basis of this understanding, our long-term goal is the directed manipulation of complex biosystems using chemical mediators. We aim at discovering interaction patterns in multilateral interactions at the chemical, biochemical and community levels.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

• A01 - Thallusin Function, Homeostasis, and Metabolism in Cross-kingdom Interactions of Ulva (Chlorophyta) and its Associated Bacteria (Project Heads Arndt, Hans-Dieter ;  Wichard, Thomas )
• A02 - Secondary Metabolite Mediated Control of Chlamydomonas spp. in Microbial Communities (Project Heads Mittag, Maria ;  Sasso, Severin )
• A04 - Role of Lipid Mediators in Complex Host Cell-Microbe Interactions (Project Heads Stallforth, Pierre ;  Werz, Oliver )
• A06 - Isolation, Characterization and Functional Analysis of Novel Biomolecules from the Mutualistic Food Fungus and Associated Microbes of Fungus-Growing Termites (Project Head Beemelmanns, Christine )
• A07 - Planctomycetal Chemical Mediators Shaping Aquatic Phototrophic Communities (Project Heads Jogler, Christian ;  van Teeseling, Muriel C.F. )
• B01 - Cryptic Mediators at the Bacterial-Fungal Interface (Project Head Hertweck, Christian )
• B02 - Bacteria-triggered Activation of Fungal Silent Gene Clusters and Impact of Produced Compounds on Microorganisms (Project Heads Brakhage, Ph.D., Axel ;  Heinzel, Thorsten )
• B05 - Role of Basidiomycete Small Molecules on Habitat-sharing Microbes (Project Heads Hoffmeister, Dirk ;  Kothe, Erika )
• B08 - Fundamentals and Applications of Chemical Mediators Facilitating Multilateral Interactions in Cyanobacteria (Project Heads Dittmann-Thünemann, Elke ;  Zedler, Julie A. Z. )
• B09 - Enzymatic Modification of Chemical Mediators (Project Heads Hellmich, Ute ;  Stallforth, Pierre )
• B10 - Chemoproteomic profiling of hydrolases that mediate microbial interactions (Project Head Lakemeyer, Markus )
• C01 - Algicidal Bacteria in Plankton Communities: Resistance, Lysis and Heterotrophy (Project Head Pohnert, Ph.D., Georg )
• C04 - Metallophores as Mediators for Metal Cycling: Profiling and Ecological Evaluation of Ligands Involved in the Microbial Cycling of Iron in Complex Systems (Project Heads Küsel, Kirsten ;  Wegner, Carl-Eric )
• C07 - Complex Ecological Phenomena Arising from Enzymatic Modification of Chemical Effectors (Project Heads Allen, Rosalind ;  Schuster, Stefan )
• C08 - Chemical Mediators of Microbiota Composition and Functionality in a Multipartite Defensive Symbiosis (Project Head Kaltenpoth, Martin )
• C09 - Probing the Role of Chemical Signalling in the Interplay of Gut Commensals, Pathogens, and their Phages (Project Head Papenfort, Kai )
• C10 - Chemical Signaling in Algae-Parasites Communities (Project Head Vallet, Marine )
• INF - Information Infrastructure/ Chem- and Bioinformatics (Project Heads Guthke, Reinhard ;  Shelest, Ekaterina ;  Steinbeck, Christoph )
• T01 - Designing Sustainable Strategies to Combat Cabbage Root Fly Infestation in Oil Seed Rape (Brassica napus) (Project Head van Dam, Nicole M. )
• Z01 - Central Tasks (Project Head Hertweck, Christian )
• Z02 - Analysis of Natural Products in Complex Biosystems - Multimodal Photonic-Based Investigations, Metabolomics and MALDI-Imaging (Project Heads Hertweck, Christian ;  Pohnert, Ph.D., Georg ;  Popp, Jürgen )

Completed projects

• A03 - Characterization of Novel Biomolecules Establishing Mutualistic Interactions with Roots of Arabidopsis and Nicotiana Species (Project Head Oelmüller, Ralf )
• B03 - Chemical Factors Structuring Gut Microbial Communities of Insects (Project Head Boland, Wilhelm )
• B04 - Stimuli-Responsive Microcapsules for Transport, Controlled Delivery and Release of Metal Ions and Organic Chemical Mediators (Project Head Schubert, Ulrich S. )
• B06 - Photoresponsive Modulation of a Freshwater Phytoplankton Community by Bacterial Lipopeptides (Project Head Nett, Markus )
• B07 - Plant Defence Detoxification Strategies of Aboveground and Belowground Herbivores in a Multitrophic Context (Project Heads van Dam, Nicole M. ;  Gershenzon, Jonathan )
• C02 - Are Plant Defenses Chemicals Commonly Sequestered and Metabolized by their Herbivores to Function as Infochemicals in Higher Trophic Level Interactions in Nature? (Project Heads Baldwin, Ian Thomas ;  Schuman, Meredith C. )
• C03 - Thiopeptide Signals in Actinomycete Communities (Project Heads Arndt, Hans-Dieter ;  Kothe, Erika )
• C05 - Metallophores as Mediators for Metal Cycling: Development of Libraries for Metal Ion Buffering and as Redox Carriers as well as Profiling of Metallophores (Project Heads Plass, Winfried ;  Wichard, Thomas )

• Applicant Institution: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
• Participating University: Universität Leipzig; Universität Potsdam
• Participating Institution: Leibniz-Institut für Naturstoff-Forschung und Infektionsbiologie e. V.; Hans-Knöll-Institut (HKI); Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Ökologie; Beutenberg Campus
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Christian Hertweck